Headlines have branded
them as “pikeys” “nimby gypsies” and “mobs.” Tabloids have demanded a “Stamp on
the camps” whilst regional press tells tales of whole communities coming
together to fight the “gypsy war.” They’re also the subject of one of Channel
4’s most watched series, Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, a show which homogenises
disparate ethnic groups under one loaded term and portrays them as marriage-obsessed
and prone to violence.

It is not surprising then
that coverage like this has caused journalist and campaigner Mike Doherty to
claim that portrayals of these communities represent “the last socially acceptable
form of racism in Britain.” Yet are these examples really symptomatic of an
industry-wide prejudice and bias? Are journalists taking enough steps to ensure
fair coverage in their reports on communities who are the subject of ingrained
hostility in some sections of the public?

“My sister and I don’t go out alone now because we’re afraid
of what might happen to us.”

Shannon O’Donnell lives in her family’s caravan in an area of
Scotland with an un-newsworthy crime rate. Yet she and her sister will now only
leave their home when accompanied by others, even if it’s just to go to the
local shop. Her reason?

“It’s because of the way we get reported on by the
newspapers and in Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.”

She has come to the annual conference organised by the Irish
Traveller Movement in Britain (ITMB) along with 200 others to discuss how to
combat the prejudice they as Travellers and Romany Gypsies face on a daily
basis.

“When we were on our
way to a convention recently a group of men approached us at a Road Chef and
told us that they were going to “grab” us.”

Speaking of the incident, she looks distressed.

“It’s not something that Travellers do, it was a few
individual people but we’ve been blanket labelled. Luckily our parents were
there to warn them to back off but it was frightening that they thought they
had some sort of right to do that to us because it’s apparently “what we do”.

“Journalists just don’t realise the physical impact their
stories can have on our community.”

Despite living in Britain for over 500 years Traveller
communities who share long histories and common traits have only recently been
officially recognised as ethnic minorities under the Race Relations Act. This
includes Irish and Scottish Travellers and Romany Gypsies, who altogether
number around 300,000 people in Britain. Under common law rulings this means that they
are now covered by the same anti-discrimination legislation that protects other
ethnic groups from prejudicial treatment.

Consequently this means they should be protected against discriminatory
and unfair practices in broadcasting under the sanctionable ethical codes of
practice adopted by the BBC and Ofcom. It also technically warrants their
inclusion in the Press Complaints Commission and NUJ guidelines, unenforceable
yet moral self-regulatory codes, the latter of which is currently subject to
wholesale overhaul following the Leveson Inquiry. But could this apparent need
to overhaul the ethical regulations of the print industry alongside anaemic
responses of broadcasting regulators to allegations of hurtful discrimination
within My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding suggest that no top-down system of regulation
is currently working well on its own?

Much anecdotal evidence suggests that most people have never
knowingly met someone of ethnic Traveller descent. David Enright, the solicitor who helped ITMB
file a complaint to OFCOM against Big Fat Gypsy Weddings, thinks: “There’s only
one place people can get these views from and that’s the media.”

This could make the role and responsibility of the media, as
one of the few points of contact between non-Traveller and Traveller
communities, increasingly potent.

Like Shannon, ITMB reports suggest that media impressions are
often stereotypical and negative and influence real-life interactions.

In a letter to the Leveson Inquiry it stated: “prejudiced
reporting creates the perception that the cultural difference between ethnic
Travellers and the rest of society are so wide and glaring that Travellers will
always be outsiders.”

This year’s Big Fat Gypsy Weddings provoked criticisms from
viewers. It was only in November, eight months after it was last broadcast, when
OFCOM decided to launch an official investigation into the series. Lord
Avebury, secretary of the all-parliamentary group for Gypsies and Travellers,
in a speech called the series “extraordinarily immoral and powerful to society.”

Enright appeared perplexed when asked at the conference
about the programme’s messages and the use of the tagline “bigger, fatter,
gypsier.”

He said: “You wouldn’t use it for any other ethnic group: Imagine
saying “Bigger, fatter, Jewier."

Georgia McCann, a Scottish Traveller who hosts seminars to
educate non-Traveller professionals about the communities, knows first-hand the
effects media coverage can have.

“A lot of people who come to my training seminars watch this
programme for background research. They start to look us over to find
stereotypical elements to visually identify us as a Traveller such as jewellery
and then make other assumptions about us based on the show’s characters.

“Since it was on TV I no longer wear any because I don’t
want to be picked out of a crowd and have these links between my appearance and
my personality made. People tend to lump Romany Gypsy, Traveller and Roma
groups together as one; totally overlooking the differences between the
different communities.

“Anything like the OFCOM investigation is good but there’s
just not enough being done: it’s like trying to plant a couple of seeds in a
hurricane.”

It would be overly-simplistic to say all or even a specific
section of the media is biased or uncompromisingly prejudiced. The Sun is
notorious nationally for its “Stamp on the Camps” and “war on the gipsy free
for all” campaigns. However even it has run a couple of articles which attempt
to highlight discriminatory efforts to re-enforce stereotypes within Channel
4’s series. Then there is the BBC, which at the national level at least appears
to have made efforts to enshrine its charter obligation of impartiality, with
shows such as the two-part documentary, Travellers, offering a more honest look at Scottish Travellers’ day-to-day
lives. The Guardian has adopted a more analytical view, digging deeper in its
reports than some in other sections of the national press. Its journalists find stories that go beyond
shallow preoccupations with 14 stone wedding dresses and bare-knuckle fighting.

For the editor of Travellers’ Times, Damian le Bas, and out-going NUJ president Donnacha
DeLong it is in regional media outlets where unsatisfactory reporting on
Traveller communities can be more apparent. Wracked by owners’ cuts to staff the
financial and time constraints on reporters and their research are implicit.

Donnacha says: “We’ve seen lots of cuts in local media where
most stories surrounding these communities take place. The problem is that
there are fewer journalists who now have to cover larger areas. This means they
don’t always know the story well so the easiest aspect for them to cover is the
crime aspect given to them by the police.

“I’m not blaming the
journalists; I’m blaming the people who won’t hire enough journalists so they
can properly do their job.”

Yet le Bas believes that “you can only make so many
excuses.

“Gypsies are categorised as being part of an environmental
problem in a lot of local paper reports. These appear to be echoes of hostile
public opinion. Rather than being talked about as genuine human beings who need
a place to live we’re likened to being blights on the landscape that lower
house prices in areas. I don’t think it helps that it’s also reflected in some
local authority policy-if you call certain councils you’ll be directed to their
internal environmental section.

“There’s a failure amongst some journalists to approach
Romany people to get a quote from them or a humanising picture. I’ve noticed
that pictures of Traveller and Romany communities are often taken from a long
way away, like how you’d take a picture of a flock of sheep, it’s almost like
they’re livestock. You don’t often see close-ups of individuals or even their
faces which could imply to some people that we’re dangerous.

“As a journalist your job is to get both sides of the story
of a conflict but quite often journalists report on issues as questions of
ethnic strife; them against us.

“All we want is the same crack of the whip everyone else
gets.”

He also believes that some article focuses represent a “very
twisted set of values.”

“The number of the crimes carried out on ethnic Traveller
communities and their severity when compared with the petty crimes of which they
are often accused are so disproportionately and wrongly focused on in some
parts of the media.”

A Bolton News article
printed in September could be one such case. Titled “Burnley MP hits out at
massive clean-up bill as travellers set up illegal camp” it seemed to allege
that legal and clean-up costs involving a group of Travellers was costing “tens
of thousands of pounds.”

It linked them to “illegal” activities, a trend spotted by Donnacha
who states: “they are the last group defined by their ethnicity who are
targeted by biased coverage which includes an increasing crime focus.”

The actual truthfulness of the article's focus was also disputed by a local councillor.

Howard Baker, councillor for the Trinity ward said: “The
headline is a severe exaggeration. I looked into it and found it cost in
between £130-£200 to move them through court.”

Whether the journalist had verified his source remains
unclear.

“I think journalists should always check their sources then
double check them. There are always concerns from the local communities about
Travellers which come with stereotyped images. I think articles like that one
can fan the flames of distrust and dislike.”

Much of the paper’s recent coverage concentrates
on land disputes and efforts to keep Travellers away from sites. A solitary
article and a few letters from readers consider the underlying issue of a lack
of legal site provision whilst a comment from the communities was found only in
one story. All the reporters also failed to identify them as proper ethnic
groups by not capitalising “Gypsy” or “Traveller” within their articles.

A failing to adequately critique public perceptions and
produce well-informed reports in the local press is a claim that Westmorland
Gazette news editor, Mike Addison, strongly denies.

“I think our paper is exceptionally fair and accurate. We
have the largest amount of Gypsies and Travellers coming into the area due to
the Appleby Fair. We do features, interviews and take pictures to try put their
viewpoints across as there is a lot of ill feeling from the communities that they
pass through.

“Our reportage is never criticised by the public for being
unfair. Local papers can only present readers’ opinions then try to get an
opposing view to ensure fairness. We as the press challenge their views.

“I think newspapers generally take a responsible attitude on
the whole to what they report.”

Accounts of the inadequate quality of some reports do not
essentially mean Traveller communities are being deliberately attacked. Le Bas
believes it may be more a matter of “ignorance, lack of facts and fear that
drive continued prejudices” in articles.

Maybe this goes some way to explaining McCann’s contention
that she has never been approached by a journalist for a quote despite being a
community awareness-raiser.

He said: “The relationship of journalists with Travellers is
almost non-existent. It’s an unacceptable form of racism but there’s almost no
communication between the two. I know that reception to us can be hostile- the
problem is there aren’t any intermediaries. It’s a real weakness we have.”

Yet Addison again states that such an issue doesn’t exist in
his area. He said: “They tend to put up a spokesman who we normally consult if
there are any problems and to balance news stories.”

To ensure consistently fairer coverage Donnacha believes it
is important to make sure spokespersons from these communities are available to
talk to journalists.

He suggests it should be part of a several-pronged effort to
make sure satisfactory reporting is standardised despite cutbacks.

“The challenge is to
rebuild journalists’ knowledge about these communities so they can report
intelligently and accurately about a story.

“Newsrooms should get
in touch with organisations which are trying to educate them and invite them
into the newsroom. I think if people actually begin to properly think about the
story there are a lot more interesting things than people being arrested or
doing something illegal or controversial.

“My fear is that any efforts will be undermined by fewer
local journalists so informed knowledge could be lacking. It will mean people
will avoid areas that are likely to cause problems in reporting, such as
Traveller communities.

“It’s also important
that we start rebuilding local media.
If big owners are no longer interested in sustaining it then people need to
take it back. We need to rebuild a sense of community media that belongs to
them and reflects the community.

He is also fairly optimistic that the explosion of social media
sites like Twitter will create more opportunities for members of discriminated-against
communities to produce their own published content.

“It could mean they don’t have to rely on big news agencies’
reports of them; they could produce them themselves. I expect in the next few
years more people will be able to tell their stories in a way that is engaging
to audiences.”

Le Bas would simply
like to see Travellers gain the respect that comes with knowing that somebody’s
ethnicity does not dictate their personality. He says: “This is the end result
but how we get there is the complex issue. At the moment it seems that
attitudes seem to be going backwards.”

Lord Leveson’s report commented on the continued negative representation
of Traveller communities within the mainstream media and the significant
influence these institutions can have over community relations and societal
perceptions. It stated that whilst newspapers are entitled to express strong
views on minority issues, immigration and asylum, it is important that stories are
accurate.

For some like Donnacha, le Bas and others, this does not go
far enough. They feel that reports should be supported by properly-informed
contexts to challenge popular myths and deep-rooted prejudices held by some sections
of the public. To them it is apparent that top-down legislative change only does
so much when challenging allegations of discrimination. It is not the reactive powers
of regulatory bodies but the grass-roots-led efforts that hold most hope for permanent
and progressive change.

What effect Leveson, cuts and new technologies will have on these
efforts to end substandard reporting and allegations of prejudiced reporting, coupled
with the problems of an uncertain economic climate, remains to be seen.